Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”  Jesus answered: “[…]Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?  Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (John 14:8-10)

Jesus’ claim is extraordinary. He is not only claiming to be the mouthpiece of God, or the prophet of God, revealing God’s truth to us. Mohammed called himself the prophet of God; Buddha claimed to have discovered the path of enlightenment; Moses and Elijah and others in OT scripture were prophets; but Jesus was different. He claimed to BE God – that his very person is the revelation of God. We’re looking at God when we see Jesus; we’re listening to God when we listen to Jesus; we know God when we know Jesus. His claim is unique amongst all religions, no one else has the audacity to claim such a thing; nor do they have the proof that they can deliver what they claim.

And what convinces me to believe Jesus is that his words are backed up by his actions. In the accounts of Jesus’ life in the Bible (and even from extra-biblical sources), Jesus lived a life that was blameless. No one can point to anything that is morally wrong. He did miracles that were superhuman – he healed the sick, calmed the storm, exorcised demons, raised the dead and he predicted future events. But the most convincing of all was the fact that he rose from the dead never to die again.

So at the end of the day, these give me confidence that all of his claims are true and we can conclude that Jesus was God come in flesh.

Yours in Christ,

Eric

St Phils Editorial